Combined pulsator dome and check valve assembly



- COMBINED PULSATOR DOME AND CHECK VALVE ASSEMBLY Filed July 20. 1966 4o 70 so FIG. i

J PULSATOR E SECTlON VALVE SECTION INVENTOR CLAUDE F. PHILLIPS ATTORNEY United States Patent Ofitice 3,370,543 Patented Feb. 27, 1968 3,370,543 COMBINED PULSATOR DOME AND CHECK VALVE ASSEMBLY Claude F. Phillips, Fairfieltl, Ill., assignor to Airtex Products, Division of United Industrial Syndicate, New York, N.Y., a corporation of New York Filed July 20, 1966, Ser. No. 566,529 Claims. (Cl. 103223) This invention relates to fuel pumps and to check valves and pulsator or air domes or chambers.

A primary object of the invention is to provide an integral pulsator dome and check valve assembly for the pump inlet and outlet, each such assembly being comprised of almost all identical components.

It is another object of the invention to provide a simplified pump wherein the casting comprises only an inlet and outlet cavity thereby reducing mold costs as well as economizing on casting metal.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a fuel pump which may be very rapidly and economically assembled.

Other objects and features of the invention will be apparent as the details are subsequently disclosed.

Briefly, the invention contemplates combining the check valve and pulsator dome structures in such a manner that the inlet and outlet cavities receive combination pulsator and check valve assemblies secured in respective cavities by force fit. Each such assembly is an integral unit comprised of a sheet metal dome member having an air dome section and a section for holding valve elements, the assembly being held together by a rivet. The only non-identical component for the inlet and outlet units is the rivet.

The invention will now be explained in greater detail in conjunction with the appended drawing in which:

FIG. 1 is a cross sectional elevation showing a fuel pump with pulsator-valve assemblies in place;

FIG, 2 is a perspective view showing one of the pulsator-valve assemblies in exterior View; and

FIG. 3 is a plan view of the pump.

Referring to the drawing the invention comprises a fuel casting 10 having an inlet tube 13, an inlet cavity 16, an outlet cavity 17, and an outlet port 20. It will be noted that the arrangement is merely a pair of elongated slightly tapered side -by side cavities in a die cast housing having the usual open end closed by pump diaphragm 28 which is clamped between the flange of the fuel casting and the valve stem mounting body 32 in a conventional manner. The diaphragm is actuated in the usual manner by the valve stem 35 and spring 37.

The invention comprises combining the air dome, that is, the pulsator chamber with the valve in a single integral assembly comprised of a housing of sheet metal or the like, the major portion of which effects an air dome being closed at the upper end for that purpose. The lower end of housing 40 is expanded into a skirt 4?, into which is force fitted or soldered a valve seat disc 46 having a cylindrical flange which frictionally fits the interior surface of skirt 43 or soldered therein. Such arrangement is for the inlet cavity of the pump wherein the valve seat 46 has a reciprocal valve disc 50 biased against it as by a spring 53 so as to close a plurality of angularly spaced ports 56 arranged in a ring through the valve seat 46. Any suitable number of ports 56 may be used. Upon a suction stroke the valve discs open the ports in the usual manner. The outer end of the spring 53 seats against a retainer cone 60 which is retained in the assembly by the lower head of a rivet 63, the other end of which rivet is swaged out to grip the upper end of the pulsator chamber, a sealing washer 66 being used as shown.

The rivet has a shoulder 70 supporting a foraminous element 73 such as a piece of screen material, or the like, which extends fully across the mouth of the pulsator chamber. It has been known for a long time that providing a foraminous baflle of that type is beneficial at the entrance to a pulsator chamber as taught, for example, in the patent to W. T. Tabb 2,405,466, and the patent to F. G. Schweisthal 1,809,394.

The housing 40 has a horizontal flange 76 as a transition member between the dome and skirt 43, which flange 76 is provided with a plurality of ports 80 for inflow of fuel around the dome when the valve opens. In assembly with the fuel casting the combination airdome and check valve is simply pushed into the inlet chamber until the upper end of the dome abuts against the inlet boss 83 as shown. The usual tapering of the walls of the inlet cavity in the casting process elfects a wedge action so that a force fit effects retention.

On the outlet side of the pump the airdome housing 40 is the same and the general construction is similar except that, in this instance, the valve seat 46 is reversed in order for fluid to move upwardly when the valve opens. Also, the rivet 63', in such instance, is fashioned so that the shoulder 70 is disposed at the proper point for holding the screen baflle at the mouth of the air cavity. In order to use the same size springs for the check valves, seat 46 is secured as by force fit or soldering at a somewhat difierent level, with respect to the end of skirt 43, than is seat 46 of FIG. 1.

The operation of both valves is substantially the same, in that fuel flows around the exterior of the pulsator dome, as indicated by the arrows, and has access through ports 86 to the respective valves and the pump chamber in the usual manner, flow being in the direction shown.

There is no need to seal the rivet bodies to the seat members, the rivets merely passing through apertures therein with a sliding fit just as they do through central apertures of the valve discs which have sufiicient sealing effect.

The pumping action causes air to be compressed sufliciently in the domes so as to produce the desired pulsator effect, such air being initially in the domes when the pump is assembled and being replenished by air bubbles in the fuel in the usual manner.

The combination pulsator chamber and valve housing is not only usable in a pump where the fuel casting is uppermost, but such pump can be inverted and the device of the invention usable therein. Thus, the airdome sections would be maintained uppermost and a force fit 0f the skirts effected in the cavities in a manner which will be very clearly understood by persons skilled in the art. However, the devices would be interchanged with respect to the fuel inlet and outlet cavities so that the valve members will operate in a direction to control respective directions of flow. In other words, the particular construction shown in the inlet cavity 16 in FIG. 1 would be in the outlet cavity of an inverted pump and the construction shown in the outlet cavity 17 of FIG. 1 would be in the inlet cavity of such an inverted pump. The devices could be held in position by frictional force fit without abutting any portion of the casting although, obviously suitable ribbing could be provided in the casting as abutments or small studs could be secured extending from the cavity walls to serve as abutments, which studs would be subsequently provided so that all castings would be made identical regardless of the mode of mounting the pump. Such expedients are well Within the skill of fuel pump engineers and designers.

What is claimed is:

1. A combination pulsator chamber and check valve comprising a housing having a closed end and an open end, a valve seat extending across said open end, a valve support member extending longitudinally through said housing and secured to said closed end and a valve member surrounding said support member and slidably reciprocal thereon, said housing being provided with port means for fuel fiow communication with said valve seat.

2. Acombination as set forth in claim 1, said housing being widened adjacent said valve seat and a radial flange intermediate said widened portion and the remainder of said housing and said port means being through said flange. 3. A combination as set forth in claim 1, said support member extending centrally and axially of said housing and comprising a rivet sealingly secured at said closed end of said housing, a spring around said rivet adjacent said valve member and abutment means on said rivet whereby said spring is compressed between said valve member and said abutment means.

4. A combination as set forth in claim 1, said support member having a shoulder and a screen element abutting said shoulder and separating said housing into a valve chamber and an air chamber.

5. A combination as set forth in claim 1, said housing being'of generally cylindrical contour and being widened at the open end to effect a valve chamber wherein the remainder of said housing effects an air chamber, said valve seat extending across said valve chamber and comprising a ported disc secured therein.

6. A combination as set forth in claim 5, said support member having a shoulder and a screen element abutting said shoulder and extending across the entrance of said air chamber.

7. A combination as set forth in claim 6, a flange intermediate said air chamber and said valve chamber, said ports being provided in said flange for permitting fuel flow through said valve chamber and externally around said air chamber, the periphery of said screen element abutting said flange.

8. A combination as set forth in claim 7, a compression spring around said support member and disposed to bias said valve member to closed position and to bias said screen element against said shoulder.

9. In a fuel pump, a fuel casting comprising an inlet and an outlet cavity, a housing in each said cavity having a closed end abutting within said cavity to locate the respective housings therein, each said housing having a widened open end comprising a skirt section having a sealing fit in the respective cavity and efiecting a valve chamber and a valve means in each said chamber, the remainder of each said housing being above the respective valve chamber and effecting a respective airdorne of lesser girth than the respective cavtiy to permit fuel flow therethrough, each airdome and valve chamber being joined by a respective flange, port means through each of said flanges to permit said fuel fioW.

10. In a fuel pump as set forth in claim 9, each said housing having a support member axially therethrough and secured to the respective closed end, each said valve means comprising a valve seat in said valve chamber having an aperture through which said support member extends and port means surrounding said aperture, a valve member having an aperture through which said support member extends and being engageable with said valve seat.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS ROBERT M. WALKER, Primary Examiner. 

9. IN A FUEL PUMP, A FUEL CASTING COMPRISING AN INLET AND AN OUTLET CAVITY, A HOUSING IN EACH SAID CAVITY HAVING A CLOSED END ABUTTING WITHIN SAID CAVITY TO LOCATE THE RESPECTIVE HOUSINGS THEREIN, EACH SAID HOUSING HAVING A WIDENED OPEN END COMPRISING A SKIRT SECTION HAVING A SEALING FIT IN THE RESPECTIVE CAVITY AND EFFECTING A VALVE CHAMBER AND A VALVE MEANS IN EACH SAID CHAMBER, THE REMAINDER OF EACH SAID HOUSING BEING ABOVE THE RESPECTIVE VALVE CHAMBER AND EFFECTING A RESPECTIVE AIRDOME OF LESSER GIRTH THAN THE RESPECTIVE CAVITY TO PERMIT FUEL FLOW THERETHROUGH, EACH AIRDOME AND VALVE CHAMBER BEING JOINED 